{"id":545788,"date":"2026-03-19T01:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545788\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T01:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T01:59:11","slug":"nfl-eyeing-potential-replacement-referees-if-cba-talks-stall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545788\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL eyeing potential replacement referees if CBA talks stall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL is floating the idea of using replacement referees with union talks stalling \u2014 again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48243257\/nfl-seeks-list-possible-replacement-refs-cba-not-reached\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN reported Wednesday<\/a> that the league is \u201claying groundwork\u201d to hire replacement officials if it and the NFL Referees Association can\u2019t come to a new collective bargaining agreement before the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The NFL is looking for \u201cabout 150 mostly small college\u201d referees to begin onboarding as soon as this spring, per the outlet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38825147\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2241310968.jpg\" alt=\"Referee Brad Rogers #126 calls a penalty during an NFL football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers at Raymond James Stadium on October 12, 2025 in Tampa, Florida.\" class=\"wp-image-38825147\"  \/>Referee Brad Rogers calls a penalty during an NFL football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Francisco 49ers at Raymond James Stadium on October 12, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsent a CBA agreement, they would continue training through the summer and make visits to training camps before the regular season begins,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n<p>The news brings back bad memories of the disastrous referee lockout in 2012, when the league used low-level college, minor league and Arena League officials during the first three weeks of the regular season, to the dismay of players, coaches and fans alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That impasse <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2015\/01\/12\/fail-mary-ref-ptsd-suicidal-thoughts-have-ruined-my-life\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ended after the infamous \u201cFail Mary,\u201d<\/a> when two replacement referees simultaneously called a game-ending pass by the Seahawks\u2019 Russell Wilson to Golden Tate a touchdown and touchback.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NFLRA executive director Scott Green is stunned the league is looking to wade back into those waters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38825162\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-152732550.jpg\" alt=\"The infamous &quot;Fail Mary&quot; during Week 3 of the NFL season.\" class=\"wp-image-38825162\"  \/>The infamous \u201cFail Mary\u201d during Week 3 of the NFL season. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly,\u201d Green told ESPN, \u201cI\u2019m surprised they would even consider it after 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NFL is said to be looking to \u201cimprove the performance of our game officials, increase accountability, and ensure that the highest-performing officials are officiating our highest profile games,\u201d according to a memo released last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The CBA is set to expire at the end of May.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, ESPN reported that \u201cfrustration [was] mounting\u201d among NFL owners about talks with the referees union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL is floating the idea of using replacement referees with union talks stalling \u2014 again.\u00a0 ESPN reported&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82679,24178,82],"class_list":["post-545788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-referees","tag-roger-goodell","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}